Hydrophobicity and counterion effects on the binding of ionic surfactants to uncharged polymeric hydrogels
Gel swelling experiments have been used to study the binding of ionic surfactants to a series of nonionic alkylacrylamide hydrogels of increasing hydrophobicity. The binding of hexadecyl trimethylammonium (C-16-TA(+)) to uncharged gels is sensitive to both the hydrophobicity of the gel and the counterion to the surfactant. There is a minimum hydrophobicity threshold below which binding of the surf